At Antwerp CC’s Rumst ground Spain won the toss and elected to bat, and after the early loss of Chris Harris two half-century partnerships enabled them to reach 159 for two. Opener Shafique Ali led the way with an aggressive 68, made off 66 balls with 7 fours and two sixes, and he was given excellent support by Pedro Venus Valiente (35) and captain Graham Howe (32).

Ali stayed until the fortieth over, but once Howe was dismissed, the first of three wickets for Petteri Moilanen, the momentum of the Spanish innings began to fall away. By the time the rain drove the players from the field Spain had reached 186 for six off 43 overs.

Play could not be resumed until 17:30, which meant that Finland would have 34 overs to make 148. This was a clear advantage to the side batting second, but the Finns were unable to capitalise on the situation.

Moilanen and Chris Shaw gave them a good start, and Shaw (31) and Nadeem Quereshi (23) saw their side through to 81 for one. But both these batsmen and Stephen Viola were dismissed at that score, and suddenly Finland were 81 for four.

Venus Valiente had collected two of the wickets, and went on to take two more, finishing with four for 29 as Spain, helped by three run-outs, dismissed Finland for 119, giving them a margin of 28 runs